Chang Yong-hak (Korean: 장용학; 25 April 1921 – 31 August 1999) was a South Korean writer.
Chang Yong-hak | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | 장용학 |
| Born | 25 April 1921 Hamyeong Buk-do, korea |
| Died | 31 August 1999 (aged 78) Seoul, South Korea |
| Occupation |
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| Language | Korean language |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Alma mater | Waseda University |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 장용학 |
| Hanja | 張龍鶴 |
| Revised Romanization | Jang Yonghak |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chang Yonghak |
Biography
editChang was born in 1921 in Puryong County, North Hamgyong Province, Chōsen, Empire of Japan (now in North Korea). He graduated from Kyongsong High School in 1940. He studied at Waseda University in Japan (which he entered in 1942 as a business major), before being drafted into the Japanese army. After the end of World War Two, he was a teacher at Chongjin girl's middle school in North Korea but in 1947 he defected to South Korea and worked as a teacher at Hanyang industrial high school and Muhak girl's high school. In the early 1960s he worked as a professor at Deokseong women's university, but soon began to work in journalism, working as a commentator at the Dong-a Ilbo and Kyonghyang sinmun, writing fiction on the side.[1]
Works
editWhile he worked as a teacher in Hanyang industrial high school. he wrote his first work "Yuksu (肉囚, The prisoned body)" in 1947 and published his work "Huihwa (희화, The funny painting)" on the Yonhap sinmun in 1949.[1] The first work he got famous as an author was his short story, translated as "The Poems of John the Baptist" (available in English translation in Ten Korean Short Stories, edited by Ken O'Rouke, 1993), was a critical success in Korea.[2]
Literary style
editChang has been characterized as an idea novelist influenced by Sartre and philosophical ideas both Oriental and Occidental [3] and as a writer of fantasy.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b "장용학". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.
- ^ Kim, Chong-un (1974). Postwar Korean Short Stories. Seoul: Seoul National University Press. p. 347.
- ^ Kim, Chong-un (1974). Postwar Korean Short Stories. Seoul: Seoul National University Press. p. 347.
- ^ 송선령 [Song Seon Ryeong] (2009). A study of Fantasy in 한국 현대 소설의 환상성 연구 : 이상, 장용학, 조세희를 중심으로 [The Modern Korean Novel: Mainly Lee Sang, Chang Yong-Hak and Cho Se-Hee]. Seoul: Ewha Womans University.